Colorado Department of Education Fact Sheet on state mandated tests R and rememberYour children will be taking PARCC / CMAS in one window this year, in April. (PARCC for math and English, CMAS for Science and Social Studies are ALL REFERRED TO AS CMAS NOW)
Click here for a refusal form specific to Colorado, which includes a link to the new law in Colorado: All schools have the right to request paper/ pencil versions of the PARCC/ CMAS assessment. ASK YOUR SCHOOL EARLY--IF THEY PLAN TO DO PAPER PENCIL (no meta data if paper pencil instead of online.)
As the new laws states,
"Each LEP [school] shall adopt a written policy and procedures by which a student’s parent may excuse them from participating in one or more of the state assessments. If a parent excuses a student, the LEP shall not impose negative consequences on the student/parent – including, but not limited to, unexcused absences or barring the student from participating in extracurricular activities."
By refusing the assessment, your child will NOT be penalized- by law. They will NOT receive a "zero" score, and refusing the assessment will not affect their grade; they will simply receive a non-participation score.
As the new laws states,
"Each LEP [school] shall adopt a written policy and procedures by which a student’s parent may excuse them from participating in one or more of the state assessments. If a parent excuses a student, the LEP shall not impose negative consequences on the student/parent – including, but not limited to, unexcused absences or barring the student from participating in extracurricular activities."
By refusing the assessment, your child will NOT be penalized- by law. They will NOT receive a "zero" score, and refusing the assessment will not affect their grade; they will simply receive a non-participation score.
Deciding whether to "opt out", refuse the test? Be careful comparing the new tests. Here's why: First and foremost, if it is online, it collects data. It is NOT simply the answer to a question, it is data about HOW: the psychometrics and algorithms measuring behavioral, social-emotional meta data. Watch this short 4 minute video to explain data collection.
THE NEW DATA DRIVEN TESTS.
"I took tests back when I was in school; it's nothing new. What's the big deal? " Next time you hear that, let the person know that today, it's not the same. Today's "grit" measuring tests are very different.
Pearson, who has a large arm that does Psychological BioBehavioral Diagnostics, for ADHD testing and PsychCorp, also known as Harcourt Assessment, also has the BOSS app that monitors students’ behavior in schools. Pearson recently introduced Q-Global, a web-based assessment platform for schools. It combines the content and functionality of three legacy software systems (Q-Local™, PsychCorp Center, and ASSIST™) into one platform. Now on-screen assessments don’t require interaction between the clinician and student. “The tool also offers a complete set of options for scoring, interpreting, and reporting assessment results.” and of course, PEARSON DELIVERS DATA TO FEDS, VIA IMS GLOBAL.
With all the new tests in school, and all the computer algorithms to identify your mood through keystrokes, behavior, emotional grit, we aren't sure entirely what is different because, as parents and citizens, we haven't seen the tests or the data. Not even teachers, school administrators, are allowed to see the actual tests. We do know that the tests are more geared to measure "21ST CENTURY SKILLS." but what are those skills and how does your child demonstrate and get measured, accurately graded for college readiness according to these 21st century skills:
TS Gold and early readiness assessments: collect information on three and four year old TODDLERS including social, emotional and behavioral data points-38 different rubric and much of it observational. Colorado BOE added MORE assessments for preschool approved menu of readiness assessments: Riverside Early Assessments of Learning, Desired Results Development Profile and Teaching Strategies GOLD Survey. Your school is only mandated to give this assessment ONCE, and you may request that they do NOT upload video or photos of your child. REFUSAL LETTER FOR TS GOLD HERE See info TS Gold data fields: rubric and sub-domains collected and shared here.
CMAS: Colorado Measure of Academic Success CMAS contract : Science & Social Studies-contracted by Pearson. (it is NOT technically part of Common Core -as CCSS are only Math and English --at this point. There is talk of adopting Common Core-"Next Generation" Science and Social Studies in the future.) CMAS tests are taken in grades 4-8-see staggered schedule on CDE website here. Taken on a computer; meta data is collected and shared. You may download this sample CMAS refusal letter here.
PARCC PARCC contract : (tests Math and English Language Arts-contracted by Pearson.) PARCC gives information about your student to the Federal Government, and can share it for "research" purposes. See contract between PARCC and US Dept of Ed here. This is the assessment that has now replaced TCAP and is aligned with COMMON CORE, read more about it here. In 2012 Colorado became a governing member of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) consortia which is currently developing new assessments in English language arts and mathematics for grades 3-8 and high school. PARCC is taken on a computer; data is collected and shared. PARCC gives personal identifying student information (pii) to the Federal Government. Read here to see how Common Core, PARCC are linked to data mining. Pearson privacy policy. PARCC is associated with MAP testing. MAP tests are taken ~every 2 months, also on a computer and also collect data. This blog site "Testing Talk" is state by state comments by real teachers piloting common core tests-and exposing the problems with the test. Click to read what CO teachers say about PARCC.
No one, outside of the PARCC creators and students who take the test, have seen the actual PARCC assessment. The public and teachers are only allowed to see sample questions from the PARCC website, but there is no way of knowing if these questions are similar to those on the test. Some have said that the sample ELA practice PARCC questions are not straight forward; they do not measure how well you are able to read a passage and extract information from it. Instead the questions feel manipulative, they are looking for inference and your belief system, your grit, not what you just read about. Look for yourself, a link to the sample test is below. PARCC is new, never validated, never seen and the results come back the following year, too late to help a child. In fact, PARCC is a summative test, not meant to measure a child's knowledge. According to a panel of experts, PARCC is also not meant to measure a teacher. So, why are we changing curriculum, spending endless money and classroom time preparing for this mandated test? WHY are we considering using PARCC as a graduation requirement?
SBAC. The Smarter Balanced assessment (SBAC) is the sister test to PARCC and is not in Colorado. It utilizes computer adaptive testing (CAT) for both the mandatory summative assessment and the optional interim assessments. This means the test adapts to students' responses, using data capturing algorithms. AIR is contracted to deliver the algorithms/ test and then handle the data. The founder of AIR, is a known psychologist, who created The Critical Incident Technique-- which identifies and classifies behaviors associated with success or failure of human activity. AIR and SBAC have access to pii, student level data. Read more about SBAC and AIR and see their MOU/ contract here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7epgdVXe0gKdUpoZFB6SjhSMXc/view
ACT, IOWA, SAT, NAEP, GED are all new assessments. These assessments have already changed their questions, their scoring, to align with the new national common core standards and they all measure GRIT. (SAT will change Jan 2016.)
ACT. Pay attention to ACT's new and secret predictor score (chance of success score) that parents and students do not get to see: "It’s one thing for standardized tests to be important factors in admissions, but now ACT proposes to pass judgment on chances of success in ways that are patently unfair to individual students. And these kinds of projections have no place in reports forwarded to colleges unless they are also provided to the person who paid for the test—the test-taker. " When you read about ACT scores, realize that in 2015 ACT had new questions, already beginning its evolution to change over to this new grit scoring.
SAT "Scores on the SAT have sunk to the lowest level in the past decade. Statistics just released by The College Board reported that the average SAT score for the Class of 2015 was 1490 out of a maximum 2400. Scores have steadily declined over the past 10 years since the college admission test was overhauled in 2005. The SAT will be changing its format in 2016. The College Board hasn't said much about the specific ways the Common Core standards and the new SAT line up, but EdWeek did a side-by-side comparison to highlight how similar Common Core and the redesigned SAT actually are." Opponents of the Common Core may be displeased to learn the standards they decry as educationally inappropriate were used to update the format of arguably one of the most important standardized tests.
NAEP. NAEP now measures GRIT. The Nation's Report Card, NAEP, around for some 40 years, sampling the population and comparing students across the country has changed. Questions are now aligned to the national standards and will include a background survey of five core areas—grit, desire for learning, school climate, technology use, and socioeconomic status—of which the first two focus on a student’s noncognitive skills, and the third looks at noncognitive factors in the school.
PLEASE be careful to compare today's new tests to those of the past: different questions, different scoring, different uses. Ponder this: If we aren't sure what is on the test, how can we know what it is measuring and if it is accurate or fair? After all, statistics are based on what data you input and how it is collected; we all know tests, surveys, even data can be biased. Perhaps it is time to let parents know what data is collected in schools, how it is shared, and why.
Pearson: Practice PARCC ELA tests http://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests/english/
PARCC Technical Advisor Says PARCC Is an “Evolving Enterprise"
https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2015/05/26/parcc-technical-advisor-says-parcc-is-an-evolving-enterprise/
Partial transcript of Colorado Dept of Education special hearing on PARCC. May 5, 2015 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1io7amXHC4NziXRSySWpp_lRA4c3NkQrwnCO56SIJUss/edit?usp=sharing
PARCC drives Curriculum: Audio segments from Colo Board of Ed meeting, results of WestEd study on State assessments, May 14, 2014 https://docs.google.com/document/d/19yomQAQMxpdxB-gOFl-DFxtBOt62ZGB6ZwZ_HHfo04k/edit?usp=sharing
PARCC data collection and sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7epgdVXe0gKUThJWWhGLVc4MlU/view?usp=sharing
Emails showing PARCC collects and shares pii https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ytapgjk8cuhdxg6/AADUNH7p45IZenjeIOrImMC9a/Agenda%20and%20materials%20SFTC%20Oct%2024_Redacted.pdf?dl=0
Against PARCC: http://co.chalkbeat.org/2014/04/23/against-parcc-an-argument-in-response-to-elaine-gantz-berman/
'Nation's Report Card', NAEP to Gather Data on Grit, Mindset http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/07/11/u-s-government-to-collect-data-on-grit-levels-of-students/
2015 changes in ACT assessment and scoring https://www.facebook.com/notes/the-study-room/the-act-college-entrance-exam-2015-changes-part-1-overview/341976492656576
ACT announces changes to college reports that could drive admissions decisions
http://www.examiner.com/article/act-announces-changes-to-college-reports-that-could-drive-admissions-decisions
College Board reports lowest SAT scores in a decade http://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/education/2015/09/09/college-board-reports-lowest-sat-scores-decade/71970620/
The SAT will be changing its format in 2016. http://www.businessinsider.com/the-sat-is-getting-a-format-change-to-align-to-the-common-core-2015-6
Compare new SAT with Common Core Standards http://www.edweek.org/media/24satchart.pdf
When Big Data Becomes Bad Data: The Bias of data https://www.propublica.org/article/when-big-data-becomes-bad-data
Student Data Collection Is Out of Control (author is Khaliah Barnes, attorney and director of the student privacy project at the Electronic Privacy Information Center.) http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/09/24/protecting-student-privacy-in-online-learning/student-data-collection-is-out-of-control
Too Far? Technology’s Reach Into Our Classrooms And Our Students’ Lives (author is attorney, journalist, and state executive director of the ACLU) http://cognoscenti.wbur.org/2014/09/09/permission-slips-student-privacy-carol-rose-jessie-rossman
Grooming Students for a Lifetime of Surveillance http://cognoscenti.wbur.org/2014/09/09/permission-slips-student-privacy-carol-rose-jessie-rossman
Prominent Ed-Tech Players' Data-Privacy Policies Attract Scrutiny (EdWeek, a good review of privacy concerns with classroom apps like Class Dojo, Edmodo, Pearson, Khan Academy) http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/04/16/28privacy_ep.h33.html
A day in the life of a data-mined kid (video and infographic showing sources of school data--not necessarily vendor related) http://www.marketplace.org/topics/education/learningcurve/day-life-data-mined-kid
Uncovering Security Flaws in Digital Education Apps, Products (RazKids, Dojo etc) http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/09/technology/uncovering-security-flaws-in-digital-education-products-for-schoolchildren.html?_r=0
Privacy and Cloud Computing in Public Schools. http://law.fordham.edu/assets/CLIP/Privacy_and_Cloud_Computing_-_EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY_-_FINAL(2).pdf
U.S. Department of Education: Enhancing Teaching and Learning Through Educational Data Mining and Learning Analytics http://colohub.weebly.com/uploads/2/5/2/3/25231592/enhancing_teaching_and_learning_through_data_mining_and_learning_analytics_doe.pdf
U.S. Department of Education: Promoting Grit, Tenacity, and Perseverance:Critical Factors for Success in the 21st Century page 62 http://colohub.weebly.com/uploads/2/5/2/3/25231592/promoting_-grit-report-2-17-13.pdf
Colorado's Golden Record of Data for every child https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSRfWfpgjZI
U.S. Secretary of Ed, Arne Duncan, whether every second grader will go to college http://dianeravitch.net/2014/04/05/my-favorite-line-from-arne-duncan-what-is-yours
CO ALT is administered to students with significant cognitive disabilities who are instructed and assessed on alternate achievement standards.
The CO ACT assessment is designed to measure students' preparedness for postsecondary educational opportunities and is administered to 11th grade students in April and May. This is the college readiness test. Taken on a computer; data is collected and shared.
==========================================
May 5, 2015 special panel on PARCC , Colorado State Board of Education: You can read the partial transcript and hear the panel here. A few of the many notable quotes are: "I think it’s really, really important to see PARCC for what it is: an evolving enterprise. Um, and not something that, uh, as it comes out of the box is a finished product, and done, and that’s how it will be from, from time, from here on out. Um, but is something that has seen a lot of work, um, and will see more work.It’s just worth saying that the common core is first of all not the Bible and second of all, it was just a hypothesis, about for example mathematics, how you would see knowledge and skills building over time. And they had to slap grade level markers on this thing but they were a guess and they were also maybe an ambition and an aspiration and so, I wish that there would have been more flexibility on the assessments side to say: “That was hypothesis. We’re going to actually find out what kids can do with different instruction and opportunity to learn and we’re going to try and measure them where they are”. um. That would have been terrific." - Dr. Derek Briggs, PARCC Representative (listen to full audio archive found here and read this 21-page, partial transcript)
Colorado Assessment Teacher Survey conducted by Augenblick Palaich and Associates (APA) at a taxpayer cost of $74,000 and commissioned by the 1202 Task Force on standards and assessments, reported their findings to the public Nov. 17, 2014. The survey found that teachers DO NOT value state mandated tests, rating the benefits of TCAP/ PARCC and CMAS between a 1.2 and 1.8 on a scale of 5. The internal (private) Draft report shows very different cost results ($55-$130 Million) -vs- the APA Assessment Public Report (shows a flat $61 Million cost to the state.) However, neither showed the COST to school districts, which is where the substantial and unfunded cost is. Additionally, neither report showed raw data collected, to support how APA came to their findings. After much public pressure, APA did release raw data on testing TIME, but refused to show ANY data on how they came to their cost results to the state. Still they refuse to report costs to schools and districts. even though these capital expenses were explicitly included in the Task Force Definitions, in Section 3.
Read about the results and discrepancy between the two public vs private APA reports here here, and here.
Report on CMAS, PARCC and assessment study done by WestEd and Colo Commissioner of Education Robert Hammond. The results of the study were released May 14, 2014. District and parent anxiety about testing was an undercurrent during the 2014 session. But lawmakers rejected bills that would have delayed rollout of new tests next year and cut back on the new social studies tests. WestEd study reveals that teachers and students are worried about PARCC content and are asking for aligned curriculum--because the new PARCC field test had content they had not seen before. The PARCC test DOES dictate curriculum. Also many suburban and rural schools need more computers to take the PARCC and CMAS tests. Click here to see WestEd slides, and HEAR audio May 14TH presentation: http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeboard
THE NEW DATA DRIVEN TESTS.
"I took tests back when I was in school; it's nothing new. What's the big deal? " Next time you hear that, let the person know that today, it's not the same. Today's "grit" measuring tests are very different.
Pearson, who has a large arm that does Psychological BioBehavioral Diagnostics, for ADHD testing and PsychCorp, also known as Harcourt Assessment, also has the BOSS app that monitors students’ behavior in schools. Pearson recently introduced Q-Global, a web-based assessment platform for schools. It combines the content and functionality of three legacy software systems (Q-Local™, PsychCorp Center, and ASSIST™) into one platform. Now on-screen assessments don’t require interaction between the clinician and student. “The tool also offers a complete set of options for scoring, interpreting, and reporting assessment results.” and of course, PEARSON DELIVERS DATA TO FEDS, VIA IMS GLOBAL.
With all the new tests in school, and all the computer algorithms to identify your mood through keystrokes, behavior, emotional grit, we aren't sure entirely what is different because, as parents and citizens, we haven't seen the tests or the data. Not even teachers, school administrators, are allowed to see the actual tests. We do know that the tests are more geared to measure "21ST CENTURY SKILLS." but what are those skills and how does your child demonstrate and get measured, accurately graded for college readiness according to these 21st century skills:
- Work Ethic
- Global and Cultural Awareness
- Personal Responsibility
- Creativity and Innovation
- Critical Thinking and Problem Solving
- Information, Media, and Technology Literacy
- Communication
- Civic Responsibility
- Collaboration
- Social and Emotional Skills
TS Gold and early readiness assessments: collect information on three and four year old TODDLERS including social, emotional and behavioral data points-38 different rubric and much of it observational. Colorado BOE added MORE assessments for preschool approved menu of readiness assessments: Riverside Early Assessments of Learning, Desired Results Development Profile and Teaching Strategies GOLD Survey. Your school is only mandated to give this assessment ONCE, and you may request that they do NOT upload video or photos of your child. REFUSAL LETTER FOR TS GOLD HERE See info TS Gold data fields: rubric and sub-domains collected and shared here.
CMAS: Colorado Measure of Academic Success CMAS contract : Science & Social Studies-contracted by Pearson. (it is NOT technically part of Common Core -as CCSS are only Math and English --at this point. There is talk of adopting Common Core-"Next Generation" Science and Social Studies in the future.) CMAS tests are taken in grades 4-8-see staggered schedule on CDE website here. Taken on a computer; meta data is collected and shared. You may download this sample CMAS refusal letter here.
PARCC PARCC contract : (tests Math and English Language Arts-contracted by Pearson.) PARCC gives information about your student to the Federal Government, and can share it for "research" purposes. See contract between PARCC and US Dept of Ed here. This is the assessment that has now replaced TCAP and is aligned with COMMON CORE, read more about it here. In 2012 Colorado became a governing member of the Partnership for Assessment of Readiness for College and Careers (PARCC) consortia which is currently developing new assessments in English language arts and mathematics for grades 3-8 and high school. PARCC is taken on a computer; data is collected and shared. PARCC gives personal identifying student information (pii) to the Federal Government. Read here to see how Common Core, PARCC are linked to data mining. Pearson privacy policy. PARCC is associated with MAP testing. MAP tests are taken ~every 2 months, also on a computer and also collect data. This blog site "Testing Talk" is state by state comments by real teachers piloting common core tests-and exposing the problems with the test. Click to read what CO teachers say about PARCC.
No one, outside of the PARCC creators and students who take the test, have seen the actual PARCC assessment. The public and teachers are only allowed to see sample questions from the PARCC website, but there is no way of knowing if these questions are similar to those on the test. Some have said that the sample ELA practice PARCC questions are not straight forward; they do not measure how well you are able to read a passage and extract information from it. Instead the questions feel manipulative, they are looking for inference and your belief system, your grit, not what you just read about. Look for yourself, a link to the sample test is below. PARCC is new, never validated, never seen and the results come back the following year, too late to help a child. In fact, PARCC is a summative test, not meant to measure a child's knowledge. According to a panel of experts, PARCC is also not meant to measure a teacher. So, why are we changing curriculum, spending endless money and classroom time preparing for this mandated test? WHY are we considering using PARCC as a graduation requirement?
SBAC. The Smarter Balanced assessment (SBAC) is the sister test to PARCC and is not in Colorado. It utilizes computer adaptive testing (CAT) for both the mandatory summative assessment and the optional interim assessments. This means the test adapts to students' responses, using data capturing algorithms. AIR is contracted to deliver the algorithms/ test and then handle the data. The founder of AIR, is a known psychologist, who created The Critical Incident Technique-- which identifies and classifies behaviors associated with success or failure of human activity. AIR and SBAC have access to pii, student level data. Read more about SBAC and AIR and see their MOU/ contract here: https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7epgdVXe0gKdUpoZFB6SjhSMXc/view
ACT, IOWA, SAT, NAEP, GED are all new assessments. These assessments have already changed their questions, their scoring, to align with the new national common core standards and they all measure GRIT. (SAT will change Jan 2016.)
ACT. Pay attention to ACT's new and secret predictor score (chance of success score) that parents and students do not get to see: "It’s one thing for standardized tests to be important factors in admissions, but now ACT proposes to pass judgment on chances of success in ways that are patently unfair to individual students. And these kinds of projections have no place in reports forwarded to colleges unless they are also provided to the person who paid for the test—the test-taker. " When you read about ACT scores, realize that in 2015 ACT had new questions, already beginning its evolution to change over to this new grit scoring.
SAT "Scores on the SAT have sunk to the lowest level in the past decade. Statistics just released by The College Board reported that the average SAT score for the Class of 2015 was 1490 out of a maximum 2400. Scores have steadily declined over the past 10 years since the college admission test was overhauled in 2005. The SAT will be changing its format in 2016. The College Board hasn't said much about the specific ways the Common Core standards and the new SAT line up, but EdWeek did a side-by-side comparison to highlight how similar Common Core and the redesigned SAT actually are." Opponents of the Common Core may be displeased to learn the standards they decry as educationally inappropriate were used to update the format of arguably one of the most important standardized tests.
NAEP. NAEP now measures GRIT. The Nation's Report Card, NAEP, around for some 40 years, sampling the population and comparing students across the country has changed. Questions are now aligned to the national standards and will include a background survey of five core areas—grit, desire for learning, school climate, technology use, and socioeconomic status—of which the first two focus on a student’s noncognitive skills, and the third looks at noncognitive factors in the school.
PLEASE be careful to compare today's new tests to those of the past: different questions, different scoring, different uses. Ponder this: If we aren't sure what is on the test, how can we know what it is measuring and if it is accurate or fair? After all, statistics are based on what data you input and how it is collected; we all know tests, surveys, even data can be biased. Perhaps it is time to let parents know what data is collected in schools, how it is shared, and why.
Pearson: Practice PARCC ELA tests http://parcc.pearson.com/practice-tests/english/
PARCC Technical Advisor Says PARCC Is an “Evolving Enterprise"
https://deutsch29.wordpress.com/2015/05/26/parcc-technical-advisor-says-parcc-is-an-evolving-enterprise/
Partial transcript of Colorado Dept of Education special hearing on PARCC. May 5, 2015 https://docs.google.com/document/d/1io7amXHC4NziXRSySWpp_lRA4c3NkQrwnCO56SIJUss/edit?usp=sharing
PARCC drives Curriculum: Audio segments from Colo Board of Ed meeting, results of WestEd study on State assessments, May 14, 2014 https://docs.google.com/document/d/19yomQAQMxpdxB-gOFl-DFxtBOt62ZGB6ZwZ_HHfo04k/edit?usp=sharing
PARCC data collection and sharing https://drive.google.com/file/d/0B7epgdVXe0gKUThJWWhGLVc4MlU/view?usp=sharing
Emails showing PARCC collects and shares pii https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ytapgjk8cuhdxg6/AADUNH7p45IZenjeIOrImMC9a/Agenda%20and%20materials%20SFTC%20Oct%2024_Redacted.pdf?dl=0
Against PARCC: http://co.chalkbeat.org/2014/04/23/against-parcc-an-argument-in-response-to-elaine-gantz-berman/
'Nation's Report Card', NAEP to Gather Data on Grit, Mindset http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/answer-sheet/wp/2015/07/11/u-s-government-to-collect-data-on-grit-levels-of-students/
2015 changes in ACT assessment and scoring https://www.facebook.com/notes/the-study-room/the-act-college-entrance-exam-2015-changes-part-1-overview/341976492656576
ACT announces changes to college reports that could drive admissions decisions
http://www.examiner.com/article/act-announces-changes-to-college-reports-that-could-drive-admissions-decisions
College Board reports lowest SAT scores in a decade http://www.mycentraljersey.com/story/news/education/2015/09/09/college-board-reports-lowest-sat-scores-decade/71970620/
The SAT will be changing its format in 2016. http://www.businessinsider.com/the-sat-is-getting-a-format-change-to-align-to-the-common-core-2015-6
Compare new SAT with Common Core Standards http://www.edweek.org/media/24satchart.pdf
When Big Data Becomes Bad Data: The Bias of data https://www.propublica.org/article/when-big-data-becomes-bad-data
Student Data Collection Is Out of Control (author is Khaliah Barnes, attorney and director of the student privacy project at the Electronic Privacy Information Center.) http://www.nytimes.com/roomfordebate/2014/09/24/protecting-student-privacy-in-online-learning/student-data-collection-is-out-of-control
Too Far? Technology’s Reach Into Our Classrooms And Our Students’ Lives (author is attorney, journalist, and state executive director of the ACLU) http://cognoscenti.wbur.org/2014/09/09/permission-slips-student-privacy-carol-rose-jessie-rossman
Grooming Students for a Lifetime of Surveillance http://cognoscenti.wbur.org/2014/09/09/permission-slips-student-privacy-carol-rose-jessie-rossman
Prominent Ed-Tech Players' Data-Privacy Policies Attract Scrutiny (EdWeek, a good review of privacy concerns with classroom apps like Class Dojo, Edmodo, Pearson, Khan Academy) http://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/2014/04/16/28privacy_ep.h33.html
A day in the life of a data-mined kid (video and infographic showing sources of school data--not necessarily vendor related) http://www.marketplace.org/topics/education/learningcurve/day-life-data-mined-kid
Uncovering Security Flaws in Digital Education Apps, Products (RazKids, Dojo etc) http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/09/technology/uncovering-security-flaws-in-digital-education-products-for-schoolchildren.html?_r=0
Privacy and Cloud Computing in Public Schools. http://law.fordham.edu/assets/CLIP/Privacy_and_Cloud_Computing_-_EXECUTIVE_SUMMARY_-_FINAL(2).pdf
U.S. Department of Education: Enhancing Teaching and Learning Through Educational Data Mining and Learning Analytics http://colohub.weebly.com/uploads/2/5/2/3/25231592/enhancing_teaching_and_learning_through_data_mining_and_learning_analytics_doe.pdf
U.S. Department of Education: Promoting Grit, Tenacity, and Perseverance:Critical Factors for Success in the 21st Century page 62 http://colohub.weebly.com/uploads/2/5/2/3/25231592/promoting_-grit-report-2-17-13.pdf
Colorado's Golden Record of Data for every child https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kSRfWfpgjZI
U.S. Secretary of Ed, Arne Duncan, whether every second grader will go to college http://dianeravitch.net/2014/04/05/my-favorite-line-from-arne-duncan-what-is-yours
CO ALT is administered to students with significant cognitive disabilities who are instructed and assessed on alternate achievement standards.
The CO ACT assessment is designed to measure students' preparedness for postsecondary educational opportunities and is administered to 11th grade students in April and May. This is the college readiness test. Taken on a computer; data is collected and shared.
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May 5, 2015 special panel on PARCC , Colorado State Board of Education: You can read the partial transcript and hear the panel here. A few of the many notable quotes are: "I think it’s really, really important to see PARCC for what it is: an evolving enterprise. Um, and not something that, uh, as it comes out of the box is a finished product, and done, and that’s how it will be from, from time, from here on out. Um, but is something that has seen a lot of work, um, and will see more work.It’s just worth saying that the common core is first of all not the Bible and second of all, it was just a hypothesis, about for example mathematics, how you would see knowledge and skills building over time. And they had to slap grade level markers on this thing but they were a guess and they were also maybe an ambition and an aspiration and so, I wish that there would have been more flexibility on the assessments side to say: “That was hypothesis. We’re going to actually find out what kids can do with different instruction and opportunity to learn and we’re going to try and measure them where they are”. um. That would have been terrific." - Dr. Derek Briggs, PARCC Representative (listen to full audio archive found here and read this 21-page, partial transcript)
Colorado Assessment Teacher Survey conducted by Augenblick Palaich and Associates (APA) at a taxpayer cost of $74,000 and commissioned by the 1202 Task Force on standards and assessments, reported their findings to the public Nov. 17, 2014. The survey found that teachers DO NOT value state mandated tests, rating the benefits of TCAP/ PARCC and CMAS between a 1.2 and 1.8 on a scale of 5. The internal (private) Draft report shows very different cost results ($55-$130 Million) -vs- the APA Assessment Public Report (shows a flat $61 Million cost to the state.) However, neither showed the COST to school districts, which is where the substantial and unfunded cost is. Additionally, neither report showed raw data collected, to support how APA came to their findings. After much public pressure, APA did release raw data on testing TIME, but refused to show ANY data on how they came to their cost results to the state. Still they refuse to report costs to schools and districts. even though these capital expenses were explicitly included in the Task Force Definitions, in Section 3.
Read about the results and discrepancy between the two public vs private APA reports here here, and here.
Report on CMAS, PARCC and assessment study done by WestEd and Colo Commissioner of Education Robert Hammond. The results of the study were released May 14, 2014. District and parent anxiety about testing was an undercurrent during the 2014 session. But lawmakers rejected bills that would have delayed rollout of new tests next year and cut back on the new social studies tests. WestEd study reveals that teachers and students are worried about PARCC content and are asking for aligned curriculum--because the new PARCC field test had content they had not seen before. The PARCC test DOES dictate curriculum. Also many suburban and rural schools need more computers to take the PARCC and CMAS tests. Click here to see WestEd slides, and HEAR audio May 14TH presentation: http://www.cde.state.co.us/cdeboard